Hafiz Saeed is free to roam around; there is no case against him: Pak envoy

Pakistan on Monday made it clear that there was no case against designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, and he is free to roam in the country.

“Hafiz Saeed is a Pakistani national so he is free to roam around. So what is the problem...he is a free citizen so there is no issue as far as Pakistan is concerned,” Pakistan high commissioner to India Abdul Basit said when asked why Saeed was working alongside Pakistan Army very close to the Line of Control.

“Courts have already exonerated him. There is no case pending against him,” he told reporters after an event here.

India has maintained that Saeed is the mastermind behind Mumbai terror attack in 2008, conspiracy for which was hatched, planned and executed out of Pakistan. Around 166 people were killed in the terror strike. New Delhi has also protested the delay in the on-going trial of the case in Pakistan.

Recently, Saeed, known for his anti-India tirade and designated as a terrorist by the US, has also accused India of indulging in “water-terrorism”. “On one hand, the Indian government has discharged water in rivers without notification and has given false information, and on the other is ironically offering help,” Saeed has said at a press conference in reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s offer to help Pakistan in the flood crisis.

On questions that Falah-e-Insaniyat foundation, a wing of Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa, is working in close tandem with Pakistani Army, Basit said, “We all know that on both sides of the Line of Control, there have been devastating floods, killing many, many people on both the sides of LoC.”

“I think in India and Pakistan, all welfare organisations are working hand in hand with the government, so we should look at this positively rather than critically,” he said.

India later hit out at Pakistan for its remarks that Hafiz Saeed had no case against him and he was free to roam, saying the designated terrorist was the “evil” mastermind behind the Mumbai attacks and it devolves on Pakistan to bring the chief of terror outfit JuD to book and deliver justice.

“Our views on Hafiz Saeed are very clear. To us, he is the evil mastermind of the attacks on Mumbai and one of the accused in an Indian court for killings on streets of Mumbai. We have repeatedly asked Pakistan that he should be apprehended and taken through normal judicial process.”

“Alas! He has never been arrested on account of 26/11. Therefore, he is only free because he is a Pakistani citizen,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.

Asked about Pakistan’s stand that there was not enough evidence to prove his involvement, the MEA spokesperson said, “99 per cent evidence in this case is in Pakistan. That is because the entire conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan. The planning for this dastardly act was done in Pakistan. The financing for this act was undertaken in Pakistan and people involved who were involved in this were from Pakistan. Therefore, it has always been our view that it devolves on Pakistan that it ensures that criminals like Hafiz Saeed were brought to book and justice was delivered in the instance of crime in Mumbai.”

Image: 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.